The novel thermochromic and energy-storage microcapsules with significant extension of color change range to different tones

In order to solve the problem of narrow color change range for common thermochromic material, the novel thermochromic and energy-storage microcapsules (TCEMs) was designed and synthesized by in-situ polymerization. The TCEMs contained optimizational thermochromic components and phase change materials, and exhibited the dual functional performances of thermochromic and energy-storage. Then, the TCEMs were applied to polyester/cotton blend fabric with waterborne polyurethane by coating process. The growing process, exterior morphology, color change effect, temperature-regulable behavior and thermal activity of the TCEMs and the treated fabrics were investigated. The results demonstrated that both TCEMs and modified fabrics had good energy-storage effect and remarkable thermochromic property. Especially, while surrounding temperature changed from 15?°C to 45?°C, the colors of TCEMs and treated fabrics could change from cool-tone (blue) to warm-tone (red), which significantly improved the color change range of the thermochromic material and made the color vary between different tones instead of changing in the region of similar color. The TCEMs exhibited great potentiality in the applying fields of decoration, anti-counterfeiting, architecture and intelligent textile, etc.